IT Ottawa West Sub-Group Meeting Minutes - August 6, 2025

Prepared by Zhidan Guan, ITOWSG Secretary

This Meeting Was Held Virtually

Present:

Daniel Shen (President), Beverley Miranda (Vice-President), Zhidan Guan (Secretary), Bobson Wong (Treasurer), Liming Sun (Member at Large), Nghia Lam (Member at Large), Robert Metcalfe (Member at Large), Pierre Leger (Member at Large), Nancy Desroches (Member at Large)

The President of the IT Ottawa West Subgroup, Daniel Shen, welcomed all executives and called the meeting to order at 6:33 PM.

AGENDA

MOTION To adopt the agenda as presented.  M/S    Zhidan/Daniel   CARRIED.

PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES

MOTION To adopt the June 4, 2024, meeting minutes as presented.  M/S   Zhidan/Daniel CARRIED.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

• Email campaign on RtO

We received a total of 354 replies. After filtering out responses that do not belong to our sub-group, we have 331 valid responses. Only 21% of respondents have a team in the same city. The PIPSC Head Office will broadcast the information to our members. Survey results have been shared with the leaders of IT Ottawa-Metro and IT Gatineau NCR as well.

• SGM 

The SGM has been postponed without a specific date indicated.

• Fight against RtO campaign

It will take place on August 8^th from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, led by PSAC and PIPSC.

• Banners and Pins

In June, an inquiry was sent to Better Together, but we have yet to hear a response.

TREASURER’S REPORT

• The request for the 2024 annual allowance has been submitted to PIPSC Finance, and we are currently waiting for their response.
• An inquiry was made to PIPSC regarding how to handle situations where recipients are missing, and it was advised that the individual can complete an affidavit. PIPSC finance will address these cases on a case-by-case basis.
• A comprehensive cost analysis of mileage was made for holding a meeting at 250 Tremblay. He will contact PIPSC Finance to ask whether the meal cost will be automatically included in our yearly budget. (Note: we only need to contact PIPSC HQ and arrange the meeting directly. Do not have to go through Concur.)
• The new signature card has been sent to PIPSC Finance.

ACTION ITEM: Bobson will ask PIPSC Finance if we need to sign on the second page of the new signature card. 

ACTION ITEM: Bobson will ask PIPSC finance whether the meal cost will be automatically included in our yearly budget (Six times/year).

EXISTING BUSINESS

• Executive apparel

Daniel contacted the store about the Dri-Weave Golf  Shirts for the team’s approval. They did not have all the sizes, but they would give us some other samples. He will follow up later.

ACTION ITEM: Daniel will proceed with the purchase of the executive apparel.

• Paintball event

Beverley: Suggesting Robert to create a detailed list for the expense, including what we left, so that we can make a plan for the following year.

ACTION ITEM: Robert will call the Paintball company to get the receipt with the detailed spending we had for this session and create a list.

• Email campaign on RtO / working from home survey

Daniel and Liming ran a random draw on Zoom and will send emails to the winners. The survey results will be announced to the members within 12 days.

Zhidan showed executives the grievance forms using three different templates from PIPSC.

•    ITOWSG membership list cleanup

This is a PIPSC HQ cleanup, and Beverley will remain the contact with Membership for further membership queries.

ACTION ITEM: Beverley will be the contact at ITOWSG regarding the cleaning up list.

•   Converting RANDs to PIPSC members

Beverley: We have to wait for the next year because only one person wanted to come to the session. Maybe we should switch to DND?

Daniel: The ESDC Consultation team will have a meeting in Ottawa next month. He will check with them and see if we can organize a Lunch & Learn related to RtO, Grievances, and Consultation Business.

ACTION ITEM: Daniel will contact ESDC Consultation team and discuss with them to organize a Lunch & Learn. The subject will be RtO-related Grievances and Consultation Business.

ACTION ITEM: Robert and Nancy will investigate of the possibility the Lunch and Learn in DND.

• Skyline sporting event for September and October

Zhidan: Given the fact that the Return to Office (RtO) policy will be implemented in September, it would be best to postpone the event by a few months. Currently, it's not a good time for PIPSC to initiate sports activities at the workplace.

ACTION ITEM: Zhidan will work on soliciting interest for the sporting event at Skyline by way of a survey (Postpone until October).

• T2200 tax specialist guest speaker

ACTION ITEM: Zhidan will contact a certified accountant as a speaker for a tax-return session or seminar before the 2025 tax season.

• Email access for the subgroup GD Inbox

Robert: Gmail differs from MS Outlook, which can delegate the rights to other user accounts.

ACTION ITEM: Daniel and Robert will investigate the possibility of the email delegation functionality to the Sub-Group General Email Inbox.

NEXT MEETING

       ●     Date: September 3, 2024

       ●     Virtual or In-Person: Virtual   M/S   Pierre/Beverley  CARRIED.

       ●     In-person venue convener:

Robert, Pierre, Daniel, Beverley, Nancy, Liming, Bobson, Zhidan, Nghia.

ADJOURNMENT

                MOTION Adjournment.  M/S Daniel, Liming.  CARRIED  8:03 PM

ACTION ITEM SUMMARY

1. ACTION ITEM: Daniel will proceed with the purchase of the executive apparel
2. ACTION ITEM: Bobson will ask PIPSC Finance if we need to sign on the second page of the new signature card. 
3. ACTION ITEM: Bobson will ask PIPSC finance whether the meal cost will be automatically included in our yearly budget (Six times/year).
4. ACTION ITEM: Robert will call the Paintball company to get the receipt with the detailed spending we had for this session and create a list.
5. ACTION ITEM: Daniel will contact ESDC Consultation team and discuss with them to organize a Lunch & Learn. The subject will be RtO-related Grievances and Consultation Business.
6. ACTION ITEM: Robert and Nancy will investigate of the possibility the Lunch and Learn in DND.
7. ACTION ITEM: Beverley will be the contact at ITOWSG regarding the cleaning up the membership list.
8. ACTION ITEM: Zhidan will work on soliciting interest in the sporting event at Skyline through a survey (Postponed until October).
9. ACTION ITEM: Daniel and Robert will investigate the possibility of the email delegation functionality to the Sub-Group General Email Inbox.

10. ACTION ITEM: Zhidan will contact a certified accountant as a speaker for a tax-return session or seminar before the 2025 tax season.